I purchased a pair of M50 v3's on Jan.27, and just noticed today that the lower woofer on one of them crackles from time to time.

It seems to crackle at a couple different frequency ranges: mainly kick drums and mid range synths.

I don't have my Onkyo receiver EQ'd at all; its coming out completely flat. I use the speakers primarily for listening to electronica (trance, electro, and dubstep). I have yet to really turn the speakers up high. The highest I've run them is just over conversation level. The crackle is noticeable at all levels though.

Could you guys provide me with some tips to diagnose (and possibly correct) the issue?

Call or email Axiom directly and explain the situation to them. It sounds like there is something mechanically wrong with that lower woofer and we can't help you with getting replacement parts. The likely scenario is Axiom will ship you a new woofer once you talk with them and then you will have to swap the bad driver with the replacement.

_________________________
I’m armed and I’m drinking. You don’t want to listen to advice from me, amigo.

When I ordered my QS8s one worked perfectly but the other had a crackling driver and a silent driver. The man I dealt with, whose name eludes me at the moment, at Axion said he was almost certain it was the drivers. I commented it seems very odd both drivers would be bad on one speaker. He said it's odd but the most likely scenario. They shipped two new drivers, SUPER FAST. I received them within two days. Swapping 'em in was the work of 10 minutes with a hand screw driver. It's worked great ever since.

Actually, I just had the same experience with my new Axioms. After I got everything hooked up and balanced, I was listening to Steve Wilson's new blu-ray music disc "Grace For Drowning" and when some solo piano started to play, there was a distinct fuzzy sound, which I soon determined to be the lower woofer in one of my M22s. Once I made sure it was the speaker and not somewhere else in the chain, I called Axiom and the nice automated system named "Brent" sent me out a new replacement woofer, no problems, no fuss. Right now I'm listening to a crippled M22, which is kind of sad, but still sounds decent.

Seeing this thread kind of makes me wonder just how often this happens, though...

You can remove the woofer which is crackling; it will not damage the speaker if one of the two woofers is not connected. Be careful to tape the non-connected wire leads inside the speaker enclosure avoiding the risk of causing a short circuit.